Pakistan batting maestro Babar Azam is on the verge of achieving multiple milestones in ODI cricket during the upcoming three-match series against South Africa, scheduled to commence on Tuesday in Paarl.
The former Pakistan captain has the opportunity to break South African batting legend Hashim Amla’s long-standing record of fastest to 6000 ODI runs.
Amla achieved the feat in 123 innings while Babar has so far scored 5809 runs in 117 innings. He needs 191 runs in his next five innings to break the record.
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It’s worth noting that Babar holds the record for being the fastest batter to score 5000 ODI runs, having achieved the landmark in 97 innings.
Babar Azam has scored 19 ODI centuries, placing him in an impressive second position in the list of most hundreds by Pakistani batters. He is just one century away from equaling the legendary Saeed Anwar’s record of 20 centuries.
During the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa, Babar needs to score two centuries to surpass Saeed Anwar and further secure his legacy in cricket history.
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If he scores centuries in all three matches, he will join David Warner, Sourav Ganguly, and Tillakaratne Dilshan in tenth place on the list of most hundreds in ODIs.
It’s worth noting that after the series opener today, Pakistan and South Africa will play subsequent ODIs in Cape Town and Johannesburg on December 19 and 22 respectively.
Meanwhile, the two-match Test series will kick off in Centurion on December 26, followed by the second Test in Cape Town, starting from January 3.
Pakistan Playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan (c)(wk), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf
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